Day 9 continued in the Alps. As I wrote this entry, the local church chimed the hour, very atmospheric.
It was a nice (if rainy in the morning) lazy day. The trip to Zugspitze mountain was cancelled due to weather (rain and lots of fog), which was disappointing. Instead we wondered around Oberammergau, including to look at the luftlmalerei houses.
(Red Riding Hood)
(Biblical scenes)
These are frescoes painted on the outside of the houses, very Bavarian. They have biblical or German fairy tale themes.
This house had scenes telling the story of Hansel and Gretel.
A few more shots as we head into the main part of town:
(Crazy thick fog!)
The town is also known for its woodcarving (thus the beautiful carved crosses in the church graveyard), so we wondered into some of those shops.
We even saw a Kathe Wohlfahrt store (the Christmas store we saw in Rothenberg), so we went inside (again).
We ate lunch in town at a pizzeria (Katherine's choice obviously) but it had schnitzel on the menu too, so I finally tried a "real" non-sandwich schnitzel meal. I think it is basically fried pork.
After a regroup at the hotel, it was finally time for our excursion to Linderhof Castle.
Kong Ludwig II built this castle in homage to one of his heroes, King Louis XIV of France (the Sun King). It was very over the top baroque and rococo. Gold leaf and mirrors everywhere (but, unfortunately, no pictures inside).
The gardens and the scenery were gorgeous,
but the palace itself, which would have been gorgeous with the mountain background,
was marred by three cranes due to some work they were doing on the back fountain and gardens.
(Pretty front façade--and crane)
(Why crane why?)
Before we went in, they turned on the fountain, and it was definitely high powered!
As I already mentioned, we couldn't take pictures inside, but once we were done with the tour we were let loose for a (short) bit to explore the grounds. We were told about the Peacock Room in the Tea Room being a bit of a long walk. We set out thinking we will have to seriously rush, and it wasn't even that long of a walk (our guide is probably used to an older crowd).
Beautiful Moorish design with a peacock throne!
As we walked back outside, the view.
We walked back at a bit of a slower pace and stopped to take a few pictures of the side garden.
A bit more wandering,
then back to Oberammergau. It had been somewhat overcast, but as we got to the hotel, the skies turned beautiful. We decided to head back out to see the luftlmalerei, and even found some we missed early.
(Ok, I might have loved the little red riding house. Who knew the Kofel was right behind it!)
(I also the love church--everytime I passed I felt like I noticed something different)
(A more modern take)
After all that walking, gelato break!
We had dinner at a local restaurant that does its own brewing.
(The cow was definitely the right touch)
The pork, potato dumpling, and red cabbage I had were terrific!
I also tried the Radler made of lemonade mixed with their beer, and it was actually good!
The next day I would finally visit one of those places that has long been on my bucket list.
• I was super disappointed that we had to cancel the excursion to Zugspitze, as it was one of the things I'd been looking forward to the most, but we did have a nice morning scouting cute painted houses. Oberammergau is so adorable and it was nice to be relaxed and without imminent deadlines. You know I like to be relaxed. :-P. But I do have to get myself to Zugspitze someday!
ReplyDelete• I really like your foggy photos. V. atmospheric, especially Photo No. 9 with the reflection of the houses in the wet road.
• Woodcarvings and cuckoo clocks are too expensive. :(.
• Our motto on this (and every) trip is to go in every possible Käthe Wohlfahrt store.
• I did make us eat at that pizzeria, LOL. I think we were the only people in there at the time. I specifically ordered my Greek-style pizza without olives and you can see from your photo that my pizza was literally blanketed in olives. Didn't send it back, though! :-P. I'm guessing your pizzeria schnitzel was probably not as good as the schnitzel I ordered at the actual German restaurant in Dresden (the night of the giant wine glass).
• I was really looking forward to getting that ~iconic Linderhof photo~ so OF COURSE the biggest and least subtle crane of all time was parked directly behind the building.
• LOL about the "long walk" to the Tea House. I had only barely started my inevitable complaining about how long detours are stressful when we have bus deadlines and *gasp* we had arrived! It took like two minutes. Pretty sure everyone else in the group went directly back to sit on the bus.
• I also have a disproportionate number of photos of the Hansel and Gretel house. The people who live there were probably close to calling the police with the number of times we walked by there, haha.
• Photo No. 50 is super pretty!
Excited to see your photos from the next day!!